Why is soccer so popular with kids? What do you think local soccer clubs could do to attract more fans to high school or professional games? I believe that soccer is popular among children for two reasons. First, it offers a high level of involvement to all players. Unlike football, where one kid might have the ball for 80 percent of the game, soccer can involve all positions on the field. I have always stressed to the younger players that even if the ball is on the opposite side from you, it will come to you eventually and you will need to be ready. Second, soccer has constant movement of play. The game doesn't have many delays or start and stop that often.

As for attracting fans to watch high school and professional games, clubs have somewhat of a difficult job. The closest top-level professional team is the Columbus Crew, which is over two hours away. AFC Cleveland is a local professional team, and puts a good product on the field. Those teams will offer discounts for teams to attend and will create on-field events to get the children involved. I really think that interest in high school and professional soccer will increase due to the coverage that Major League Soccer and English Premier League games are getting on television. Additionally, the World Cup will be held this summer in Brazil, and almost all games will be televised. That will surely increase interest in the sport. Last year Ohio passed a concussion law to raise awareness and better-protect athletes in all sports. How has this law affected the attitude of parents and coaches in your club? I think the media and public discussions on concussions and concussion-related injuries and illnesses really heightened awareness for parents and coaches. Ohio's law requires all coaches for all sports to become educated about what to look for and how to respond. The attitude of "just shake it off" has gone away. All people involved -- coaches, players, parents and referees -- are more aware of watching what happens to a player with a possible head injury. Placing the children and their health above the game result is the proper focus. Concussions are not limited to football, and people are starting to understand how serious they can be.

What do you do to make sure the players you coach learn the game and want to come back to the sport? To insure that players learn the game, I try to get them to understand how the "flow" of a soccer game. Younger players will tend to gravitate to the ball, or bunch. As they grow and mature, they begin to recognize that moving the ball by passing gets the ball to the goal much faster than dribbling. They begin to understand that being patient in their position will often times lead to success.Players will want to come back to the sport if they are involved. I try to structure practices around active play, or stations involving different activities and skills, rather than standing in a line waiting to kick the ball. At a clinic I attended, the instructor explained that European children learn more from simply playing the game in the streets. By weaving a skill or tactic into a "drill" that involves some sort of game, the kids learn while they play and have fun.

What do you do to encourage good nutrition habits with your players (and their parents)? To be truthful, I don't really focus that much upon nutrition with my players. I'm more concerned with their fitness for games. While we do some running without the ball, most practice activities are focused not only on learning a skill or tactic, but increasing their endurance by running constantly.

What's your favorite part of a game? I think my favorite part of soccer is the watching a play that involves a number of players working together, either to score or successfully defend their goal. Watching someone make a spectacular individual play is always exciting, but I enjoy watching a play build up and involve three, four or even more players. I love it when a child makes a play in our defensive end, quickly turns the tide, and after a few nice passes between teammates, we score.

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